Police to adopt ‘zero-tolerance’ attitude
Amritsar, October 6
Even as the Police Department has received ‘clear-cut’ instructions from the higher authorities to adopt ‘zero-tolerance’ attitude towards the drug traffickers in order to stem the problem of rampant drug abuse in Punjab, the big fishes involved in the illegal trade are still out of their reach.

Amritsar, October 6
With scant regard to the transport norms, auto-rickshaws here continue to ply outside the city limits.

This came to light in an incident wherein tourists returning from the Wagah border got injured when the auto-rickshaw they were travelling in was hit by a canter on Saturday.

Throwing all norms to the wind, auto-rickshaws are carrying tourists visiting from the city to the Attari Wagah Joint Check Post (JCP).

About 36 kilometres from the city, the Attari Wagah Joint Check Post is located on GT Road, which once connected Amritsar to Lahore.

The highway regularly witnesses traffic of heavy vehicles, especially those carrying import and export products such as vegetables, meat and dry fruit across the border.

Keeping in view the movement of heavy vehicles and anticipating an increase of traffic in future with the normalisation of ties between India and Pakistan, the Central government has widened this arterial road to four lanes.

The auto-rickshaw operators do not mind driving on the highway, thus putting the lives of tourists in danger. Their offering low fare as compared to the charges of taxi services also works as bait to the gullible visitors.

Auto-rickshaw operators approach pilgrims and tourists who visit the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh and offer to take them to the Attari Wagah Joint Check Post to view the retreat ceremony.

The auto-rickshaw operators charge between Rs 70 to Rs 100 per person for the travel. To maximise their margins, they pack their vehicles carrying as much as 10 persons.

Amar Singh, a taxi-owner and driver, said the charges for to and fro journey for the JCP from the city in a four-seat car is Rs 800 while an eight-seat vehicle charged Rs 1,200. Besides, the occupants have to shell out Rs 40 more at two toll plazas, which fall between Naraingarh and Attari.

As per the transport norms, auto-rickshaws can only operate within the municipal limits of the district, where they are registered.

An auto-rickshaw registered in a district can not be ferried to another district. The Transport Department can impose a fine of Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 for violating the permit norm.

Ferrying eight to 10 persons in an auto-rickshaw is in blatant violation of the norms as overloading is a punishable crime. It has been noticed that many avoidable accidents take place owing to overloading. The transport law limits the number of passengers in an auto-rickshaw from three to four. The Transport Department can impose a fine of Rs 2,500 for the violation.

When contacted, Baljeet Singh Randhawa, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), said, "The police personnel deputed with the traffic wing will be directed soon to prevent auto-rickshaws from plying on the highways." 

Amritsar, October 6
Continuing its drive against drug trafficking, the police has arrested as many as 10 persons, including a woman, in separate instances and recovered narcotic substances and huge quantity of illicit liquor from them in the past 24 hours.

The city police confiscated around 375 liters of illicit liquor from Jasbir Singh of Gumanpura area, besides impounding his vehicle bearing number PB-02-BK-9387.

The Amritsar rural police seized a major haul of illicit liquor from three persons in as many instances. Among those arrested are Mada Singh of Chhann Kohali, Gurpreet Singh of Gumanpura and Varinder Kumar of Sathiala. The police seized 350 kilogram of lahan (raw form of liquor) from Mada Singh, besides 90 liters and 6,750 ml of illicit liquor from Gurpreet and Varinder respectively. While Varinder was released on bail, Mada Singh and Gurpreet managed to dodge the police during raid.

Meanwhile, the city police arrested Kashmir Singh of Jalandhar and Gurtej Singh of Kasel village in Tarn Taran for allegedly possessing 180 grams of heroin worth several lakhs.

Among others who have been nabbed with narcotic substances include Sahil of Gawal Mandi (100 grams narcotic powder), Satnam Singh of Nehru Colony (100 capsules), Avinash Chander of Islamabad (90 capsules), Sukhdev Singh of Maqboolpura (5430 ml liquor) and Baljinder Singh of Jhite Khurd with six boxes of liquor.

The city police also nabbed a woman, identified as Geeta of Ibban Kalan, on charges of drug peddling and recovered 50 grams of intoxicant powder from her possession. 

Amritsar, October 6
With the onset of festive season, gambling has started picking up in different parts of the city.

The practice is prevalent as it is taking place in farmhouses, hotels, resorts and even homes.

Two years ago, the police had carried raids at a resort at Fatehgarh Churriyan road bypass where gambling was organised in the guise of a charity organisation. Interestingly, the kin of affluent people were found to be involved. Even as some reports had suggested that the police recovered close to Rs 1 crore, the police officials had pegged the amount at Rs 7.50 lakh only. The couples caught during the raid were later released on bail.

The practice of playing cards around Diwali has grown manifold in the recent years. Many hotels, resorts, and houses in the walled city and in posh localities are reportedly involved in gambling. Rough estimates suggest that transactions worth crores are made. Gambling has now become a well-organised trade as commercial establishments as well as families are involved in this.

Many houses are turned into gambling dens as they attract least suspicion. 

Amritsar, October 6
With the arrival of festival season, the police has beefed up security arrangements in the city, particularly around the vital religious places and key tourist destinations such as the Golden Temple and Durgiana Temple.

The city police has got around 700 extra personnel from the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) and other police training centres for guarding these places besides holding nakas at various points to thwart any untoward incident.

Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Police Commissioner, said the city markets would witness heavy rush while the people and devotees would throng the religious places to pay their obeisance. The police department, he said, had made heavy security arrangements. He said police officials had also been told to keep a close eye on the movement of anti-social elements. Religious places and tourist destinations have been provided adequate security arrangements, he added.

The Police Commissioner recently held meetings with officials and passed necessary instructions in this regard.

"Nobody will be allowed to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the city," said the Police Commissioner.

Recently, the Durigana Temple management had received a threat letter from the Khalistan Commando Force, a terrorist outfit, against the construction of a memorial in memory of those who were killed during the militancy era in Punjab.

Temple management committee had received the letter about two weeks ago following which a delegation led by Ram Parkash Chopra, patron, Satpal Mahajan, president, and Ramesh Sharma, general secretary, had met the Police Commissioner.

Expressing concern, they had urged Aulakh to augment the security arrangements on the temple premises. Though some police officials claimed that they were yet to ascertain the authenticity of the letter, they said the security arrangements had been beefed up in and around the temple.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Kaustubh Sharma today visited the temple and reviewed the security arrangements on its premises.

Harish Taneja, the committee spokesman, said the temple management had unanimously announced to construct a memorial few months ago in memory of those who were killed during the militancy period irrespective of any religion, caste or creed.

Amritsar, October 6
Even as the Police Department has received ‘clear-cut’ instructions from the higher authorities to adopt ‘zero-tolerance’ attitude towards the drug traffickers in order to stem the problem of rampant drug abuse in Punjab, the big fishes involved in the illegal trade are still out of their reach.

If the recent arrests and recoveries made by the Police Department is anything to go by, majority of the accused were low-rung drug peddlers who took up the illegal trade to garner money for their consumption.

The Police Department, city as well as rural police, has arrested over a dozen of persons on daily basis in the past one month. Looking at the number of arrested persons, it came to light that barring a few persons a large number of them were small-time drug peddlers.

It is pertinent to mention here that expressing concern of the rise in rampant drug abuse in the state, the Punjab government had pulled up the Police Department and has asked the senior police officials to adopt zero tolerance against the drug traffickers and hit at the supply line of the contraband being smuggled from Pakistan through porous Indo-Pak border fence.

A senior police official seeking anonymity pointed out that Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini recently held a high level meeting with all Police Commissioners, Zonal IGs, Range DIGs and SSPs which continued for about five hours.

The DGP told the police officials to unleash a crackdown on drug trafficking. He asked them to expose the smuggling rackets in a complete and end-to-end manner, various routes adopted by the smugglers, their couriers and recipients of the consignments of the contraband.

“You will definitely see the results in the coming future and big fishes would fall in the net of the Police Department. Already with the concerted efforts and drive against drug trafficking, the police department has confiscated around 190 kg of heroin from all over Punjab till now this year,” said a spokesman of the Punjab police.

Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Police Commissioner, said the Police Department was now working from link-to-link in order to reach the main suppliers.

“We will leave no stone unturned to stem the problem of rampant drug abuse and hopefully major drug suppliers would also fall in the police net in the coming time,” he said.

POLICE COMMISSIONER’S TAKE

The Police Department is now working from link-to-link in order to reach the main suppliers. We will leave no stone unturned to stem the problem of rampant drug abuse and hopefully the major drug suppliers would also fall in the police net in the coming time
—Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Police Commissioner

Amritsar, October 6
The family members of a Tarn Taran resident who passed away in 1988 has alleged that the local Municipal Corporation has issued a fake death certificate showing the date of death as August 5, 1999.

In a press conference held here today, Dalbir Kaur, wife of Jaipal Singh Dhillon, said, “My husband had died on July 7, 1988. And we had got a death certificate issued from the Birth and Death Registration office with the same date.”

She said the family was undergoing a property dispute with a few people and the MC employees had issued the second certificate in connivance with the opposite party.

Showing a copy of the second death certificate, she said it was issued on July 16, 2013.

Dalbir said even in an account closure report of the Gandiwind cooperative agricultural service society, a registered body in village to facilitate farmers with credit, the account was mentioned closed on January 1, 1991, with remarks that the account holder had died.

She also showed a copy of the jamabandi, a land records document in which the inheritance has been passed on to the family members, stating that mentions that Jaipal Singh had died on July 20, 1988.

She alleged, “When we went to the Birth and Death Registration Office of the Municipal Corporation, the officials failed to provide a reason for the same. We were told that first certificate might be the fake one but the second is correct.”

She complained that how can the MC issue a second certificate when nobody can deny that Jaipal Singh had died in 1988.

She said she had already filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Police and demanded that action should be taken against the employees who had issued the second certificate.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said that he was not aware of the facts of the case.

Amritsar, October 6
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed a toy shop owner to pay Rs 1,000 to a local resident for forcing him to file a complaint by not refunding the amount of a defected video game in time.

Earlier, Dharminder Talwar of Majith Mandi had filed a complaint against Leo Toys Centre, Pink Plaza Market, on July 5 this year alleging that he had purchased a video game worth Rs 4,500 from the opposite party.

He said at the time of selling the game he was assured that it was one of the best quality products available in the market. He alleged that the game had an inherent manufacturing problem from the day of its purchase as it used to hang while playing.

He stated that when he approached the shop they kept it and assured that it would be replaced or the amount would be refunded. During the proceedings of the case no one from the shop appeared before the forum.

However, during the pendancy of the case, the amount of Rs 4,500 was refunded to the complainant.

The forum observed that as the opposite party had already refunded the amount, the complainant was not entitled to any compensation. However, it observed that as the opposite party had returned the amount of the game to the complainant after filing of the complaint it proves that complainant was forced to file the present complaint against the opposite party. The forum stated that as such the complainant is entitled to litigation expenses.

Amritsar, October 6
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has instructed an insurance company to pay Rs 50,000 along with nine per cent interest for failing to provide the compensation for a stolen vehicle. The insurance company has also been directed to pay Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses.

Earlier, Kapil Khurana, a resident of Katra Alluwalia, had filed a complaint against the National Insurance Company alleging that he had got his vehicle insured for a sum of Rs 50,000.

His vehicle was stolen by some unknown person from outside his residence. The complainant stated that he immediately lodged the report with the police station.

He alleged that the insurance company did not pay him the compensation despite his repeated requests. In the written reply filed by the company it was submitted that in spite of various requests and reminders the complainant failed to furnish the requisite documents such as lodging of separate FIR, untraced report duly accepted by the court along with other documents which were essential for processing the claim.

Also, it was submitted that in the case the alleged date of theft of vehicle in question was November 3, 2011, whereas the case has been clubbed with other incidents of theft which took place on November 7.

The forum concluded that the complainant had submitted all the documents as required by the company and the opposite party wrongly treated the case as no claim on the grounds that the complainant could not produce untraced report duly accepted by the court.

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ruled that the complainant cannot be denied his claim on the ground that final police report was not forthcoming.

Amritsar, October 6
The CBSE Cluster XVI Basketball Tournament 2013 was today held at Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary School.

About 70 teams from CBSE affiliated schools from various parts of Punjab exhibited their skills in the game.

School principal Dapinder Kaur welcomed the guests and also thanked the management, CBSE officials, the teaching and non-teaching faculty of the school for their whole hearted support and co-operation.

The closing ceremony began by invoking the blessings of the Almighty with the recitation of Shabad - Deh Shiva Var mohe ihe. The senior boys of the school presented an energetic and power packed bhangra performance.

Chief guest Amritsar Development Authority Chairperson Sandeep Rishi congratulated the winning team and also applauded the efforts put in by other teams. He also declared the CBSE Cluster XVI Basket ball Tournament-2013 closed.

Amritsar, October 6
The Ajnala police has booked four persons for allegedly assaulting a village sarpanch and molesting his wife after barging into their house.

The accused have been identified as Sohan Singh, Sucha Singh, Amrik Singh and Mukhtar Singh, all residents of the same village.

Dalbir Singh, a resident and sarpanch of Chak Dogra village, stated to the police that the accused barged into his house while threatening to teach him a lesson for taking wrong decisions in the village panchayat.

He alleged the accused not only physically thrashed him but also sexually harassed his wife. He said the culprits also ransacked his house and broke the household provisions.

Following his statement, the police has registered a case under Sections 452, 354, 427, 506, 323 of the IPC against all the accused.

The police authorities said investigations were under progress while no arrest has been made so far.

Amritsar, October 6
The Jandiala police has registered a kidnapping case in which two minor children of a migrant family went missing from Jandiala Grain Market about a week ago.

Daya Ram, a resident of Rajikot, Uttar Pradesh, and father of the missing children, stated to the police that his 10-year-old son Sunny and 6-year-old daughter Fuman went out of the house without telling anyone.

The police has registered a case under Section 365 of the IPC in this regard. — TNS

Amritsar, October 6
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) won the ‘All India Public Sector Hockey Tournament’. They defeated Indian Oil Corporation in the finals at Guru Nanak Dev University here today.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) won the game in penalty shoot scoring 3-2. Earlier, the teams were locked at 2-2. JS Waraich, secretary, All-India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board (AIPSSPB), presented the winner’s trophy to the ONGC team.

The tournament was organised by AIPSSPB. Six teams from public sector units operating in India had sent their teams which included Air India, Food Corporation of India and Indian Overseas Bank.

Waraich said the AIPSSPB is also promoting other games besides hockey. He said players from all the six participating teams had put up a spectacular show and skills of the game were aptly displayed during the various matches.